Long run, and other people's long runs

I had a busy schedule of VLM-watching and Scottish cup semi-final watching on Sunday (not that I managed to see much of either in the event, just as well in the latter case) so I did my long run - 18 miles - on Saturday. I was a bit worried about this since last week's hot and bothered 14 had been such a struggle. As it turned out, though, Saturday was a good day for it as it was much cooler, Sunday turned out to be hot, as people who were racing that day may possibly have noticed. I did a short 3 mile loop from near my house and then headed off along the Deeside Way towards Banchory, turning back towards home at the 10.5 mile point to make it up to 18. Felt a lot better than last week, tried to take it really slowly, stopping to walk for a minute or so every 2 miles and drink a little water/eat a Shot Blok. The "walk breaks" did increase a bit over the last few miles, but I managed to run most of it, certainly a lot better than last week and was happy enough with splits of

* 11:03
* 10:14
* 10:26
* 10:30
* 10:20
* 10:20
* 10:16
* 11:09
* 9:57
* 10:36
* 10:32
* 10:28
* 9:58
* 10:19
* 10:32
* 10:32
* 10:34
* 10:13

18.01 miles in 3:08:03, average pace of 10:26. Knee fine. I think it twinged twice later on in the run, but it never came to anything.

Actually really enjoyed this run, lots to see, deer, horses, loads of rabbits scampering around the place, some Jemima Puddleduck-lookalikes round a pond, oh and about a zillion cyclists, and a few other runners too.

I did manage to watch a fair bit of the women's race and again pondered the eternal question of why (some of) the elite women run marathons in their knickers. I was so impressed by the winner, Mary Keitany (wearing shorts, incidentally) who looked so comfortable the whole way round and made it look easy! Jo Pavey did really well too. An awful shame for Liz Yelling though who didn't have the race she must have hoped for at all, but well done to her for seeing it through. Unfortunately I didn't get to see much of "the masses", had been hoping to spot a few people I know but unless they were dressed as a giant nurse, camel or Puff the Magic Dragon there was no chance. I did glimpse a couple of people in Fetch shirts though.

Well done to everyone who ran :-)